Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Girl Whirl

Shortly before I left for the NE Blogmeet, Sweet Daughter
got a little … wistful. She didn’t want me to be so far away. (For two and a
half whole days, even!) So I promised that I’d have a surprise planned the
weekend planned after I returned. This incident being seared into my memory, I enlisted
the aid of The Miller who was kind enough to aid and abet me in my plot.

So, Saturday morning I told SD to hurry up and get dressed
because we were going to her favorite restaurant for breakfast (all-you-can-eat
bacon, doncha know) and then … to the range. To say that she was excited was a
bit of an understatement. I did a quick gear check and noticed that the
batteries were dead on her “ears”, so we stopped and got new batteries. Then,
as we were walking into the restaurant, we noticed she’d forgotten her coat in
all the excitement. No problem, I’d grab one the multitude of sweatshirts we
leave in there for just this kind of occasion … but I’d cleaned out the car
before my trip. A quick stop in the Wal-Mart parking lot followed, and after
digging in the wheel well, I found the ultra emergency back-up parka that had
been there for 3 years. And still (barely) fit.

Next stop … THE RANGE. And we got there on time, with only
one other car in the lot, so we used our time reciting the Four Rules. Not long
afterwards, The Miller came rolling in and we got in line. It was a mixed crowd
with a lot broader demographic than I was used to seeing. And of course, this:

We went in, got a lane and geared up. The Miller unpacked his arsenal of .22’s he’d brought for SD as she’d been dying to shoot a “real”pistol. We started with her Cricket rifle as it was familiar, but she really wanted to shoot a pistol. The Miller gave her some excellent advice, and she went to town.

While my goal for this trip was simply to keep her safe and
have fun, most of her rounds ended up on paper, including several in the 10
ring. She was THRILLED.

No, I did not jiggle the camera. SD was just doing her best impression of a hummingbird. On crack.

While shooting, she was all business. Even when she got a little too close to the slide and it bonked her in the nose, she carefully put the pistol down, and stepped away from the lane before requesting hugs and sympathy. And, as it was one of those instances where she “just needed to get the tears out”, she had the presence of mind to ask to be taken back into the lobby so she could safely remove her safety glasses before wiping her eyes.

Strength might be an issue w/ a Ruger Mark whatever. My wife can no longer (due to arthritis) handle pulling back the slide to cock the pistol w/ our Mark II. Whatever you wind up getting, I'm sure she'll have a wonderful time with it.-- ARRognlie

Damn, she's good! She did the Four Rules unprepared at Larry's book signing, now she's shooting the 10 ring. No need for your family to enroll in D.A.D.D., she'll take care of the problem herself. Oh, and I found a range outside Andrews AFB. They're getting ready to expand to a larger facility, including 100 ft.

'You know in the bell curve of bad-assness you are on the far edge. Maybe not as far as female helicopter door gunners but you are closer to her that to the soccer moms...'- someone who wishes to remain anonymous